September 4-7, 2006
It is Labor Day and we are on our way to Barcelona and a new adventure, once again staying in the home of someone we’ve never met in person, a friend of Marta who lived in our home for a year and whose parents, Josep and Angeles, Paula and I stayed with in 2000. We had been invited to stay with Josep’s sister in Barcelona but she recently had abdominal surgery and has begun a series of radiation therapy sessions and did not feel up to having company so Marta arranged a place with her friend Rita who lives right in the heart of Barcelona.
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(The first paragraph I wrote by hand in a small paper journal. The rest I am writing on computer using my Cruzer flash drive. I can save the text and print it out at home. Since we have computer access 12 of the 18 days, I decided to try this instead of laboriously writing it all by hand. I can print it out and paste it in my larger journal along with photos, postcards and parts of brochures. The one problem seems to be transferring letters and symbols from a keyboard set for Catalan.)
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We rode Business class, a possibility for retirees of the airline if there are seats available. We arrived, well rested at 11:30 a.m. on Sept 5, cleared customs and by noon were in a taxi en route to Rita’s apartment and were in bed sleeping by 1 p.m. Barcelona time.
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After a short nap we walked four blocks to Casa Mila a.k.a. La Pedrera which means rock quarry because the walls appear to be carved from rock. Inside is an apartment furnished as it was when Gaudi lived there. It is interesting but the real attraction is the roof. Gaudi believed in creating beauty everywhere possible. Around each air shaft, each stairwell, every cover for heating or water etc. he built magnificent monoliths and covered many of them with mosaics of his own design. Some were tiles broken and placed in specific patterns. Some were broken bottles of various colored glass. A path of steps and curves, arches and pinnacles creates an amazing sight.
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We walked Las Ramblas to the end where the statue of Christopher Columbus stands and then across the bridge to the Tapas House at the Entrance to the Port where we ate a light lunch of six Montaditos each—small appetizers “mounted” on crisp pieces of baguettes.
We had red wine and mineral water. The wine cost half the price of the same quantity of water.
A little before 8 p.m. we met Rita and the three of us walked down the Rambla Catalunya to Cerveseria Catalunya –the best place I’ve seen for tapas and montaditos. There were more than 50 varieties, all of them made in the restaurant/bar. The tapas plates included pescaditos fritos-- small fried fish, pinchos—small whole calamari the size of a finger and other plates of several pieces of one thing. The montaditos included small mini-tenderloins on toast with a wonderful sauce, crab, minced mushrooms, jamon Serrano—cured ham--and many more.
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The next day we took the metro to Gaudi´s famed La Sagrada Familia—Holy Family—cathedral. Gaudi was hit by a trolley car in 1926 and died with only a small portion of the work completed, but he left behind a complete scale model and all his blueprints and plans. Work has continued for 80 years now and some estimate it will continue for 50 years more. Work is just beginning on the nave and they are still forming specially shaped blocks in concrete molds. It is an amazing work of art complete with details rarely seen today. It is supported by a foundation whose main source of funds is the entrance fees paid by tourists from all over the world. I was told that when the money is insufficient, the work stops until money is once again available.
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We retraced some steps that Paula and I had walked in 2000, stopping for fresh squeezed juice in La Boqueria market, meandering through the Old Town—Barri Gotic, and discovering the completely redeveloped BORN, a formerly neglected area around an old covered market with a picturesque multi-colored tiled roof. The building is at this time still empty but serves as a recognizable landmark and namesake for the area as Born means market.
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At the locally respectable hour of 3:00 p.m. we stopped for lunch along the rambla then took the metro “home” for a short rest.
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In the evening Rita called the Avis around the corner from her house and negotiated the price and terms which included an airline employee discount and extra kilometers. Our trip to Basque country is estimated at 1400 kilometers on the AP (autopista) and we will drive off the AP to see a few small villages.
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Today is the 7th and we leave Barcelona at 1:00p.m in our first attempt at driving in another country. Spain is quite organized and the signs are easily understood so I don’t anticipate any problems.
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